MoviePass CEO mistakenly sent PORN to Netflix users in ’98

  • MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said he accidentally sent porn to users in 1998 
  • He and other co-founders were rushing to load videos onto DVDs in 24 hours
  • Because they were rushing he said they weren’t paying attention to each disc
  • Pornography was loaded onto a few hundred and shipped to viewers 

MoviePass CEO and Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe (pictured) said he and his partners Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph accidentally sent pornography to their members right as the company was getting on its feet, according to Page Six 

In the early days of Netflix a glitch caused hundreds of people to receive a DVD of pornography instead of a fun movie. 

MoviePass CEO and Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe said he and his partners Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph accidentally sent pornography to their members right as the company was getting on its feet, according to Page Six. 

Speaking at a Sundance event on Monday, Lowe said that in 1998 Netflix was testing its ability to put video onto DVD in just 24 hours – a feat that at the time was unheard of. 

They were using the MoviePass Estate in Park City, Utah, and were loading Bill Clinton’s testimony about the Monica Lewinsky Scandal onto discs. 

He said that because of how quickly they were moving and a glitch, they didn’t realize that some of the DVD’s had porn burned onto them instead of the testimony. 

He said that because of how quickly they were moving and a glitch, they didn't realize that some of the DVD's had porn burned onto them instead of the video that was supposed to have uploaded

He said that because of how quickly they were moving and a glitch, they didn’t realize that some of the DVD’s had porn burned onto them instead of the video that was supposed to have uploaded

Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California as a DVD sales and rental company. Pictured is co-founder Reed Hastings, left, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos

Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California as a DVD sales and rental company. Pictured is co-founder Reed Hastings, left, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos

‘When you get DVDs you usually have nice labels, but when you’re ging fast you don’t have time for labels,’ Lowe explained. 

‘It turns out that [the person] who was a duplicator also duplicated pornography.

‘We sent thousands and thousands and a couple hundred had porn on them! We told our customers to send them back – no one did.’ 

Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California as a DVD sales and rental company. 

However after a year Hastings cut sales and focused on DVD rental-by-mail business. 

Then in 2007 the company introduced streaming media and started tpo expand internationally. By January 2016 Netflix streaming was available in 190 countries, and it is now available in 200. 

Lowe served as VP of business development at Netflix from 1998 to 2003, and then moved to become the president and COO of RedBox. He came to MoviePass in 2016 in an effort to help expand the company. 



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